Truman Show Response

Author's Note: This is a response to the movie The Truman Show. The movie really made me think about the lingering questions about our own existence, and how we can tell if life is an illusion.
Truman Show Response


In reality only one thing that is certain is that I exist. I think and process life as it occurs to me, and I have opinions, so because I think I know I exist. However there is no proof that my surroundings exist, and these surroundings and people could be figments of my imagination, or people ordered to interact with me just like a movie set. The Truman Show exemplifies the notion that reality does not exist, and that it’s an illusion.



It is natural that we question our own existence, because at times it can seem so perfect and so brutal as if it’s an illusion or dream that one can wake up from. The Truman Show shows a man living inside a dome, living a fake life that is actually a movie set, and everyone who interacts with Truman is a paid actor. This plotline is asking how we know that life is real, and that the people we interact with and love are genuine. It shows all the strange twists that life takes, and the plausible idea that there is a divine being pulling the strings in life.



Many parts of the movie show the grinding routine that humanity pulls through on a daily basis. For example Truman keeps on going to the same job each day while making the same stops along the way. In life we constantly question what keeps us in our roles in life, and what is keeping us from being spontaneous, and doing what we wish. It seems like the laws we have to follow are flimsy guidelines created by a ruler who controls us. This is exemplified when Truman constantly tries to leave the island to travel to Fiji and other places, but the creator of the movie forces him back, and the same thing seems to occur in life. The things that we desire and want to happen are crushed by outside, uncontrollable variables in life. An example of this would be if one wants to go on vacation, and one’s car breaks down. It seems as though life is being controlled by someone who decides what happens to us.

Because it seems like we are being controlled in life, we try so desperately to break free from life by challenging our limits and challenging death. People do dangerous stunts such as sky-diving or act randomly as though we are challenging the being, “in charge” to control us, and these activities make us feel in control of our own lives. Truman does this a lot in the movie like when he sails on the ocean as far as he can go even though he is deathly afraid of water. This scene is him challenging the show’s director to enforce his power on Truman, and his crossing the ocean symbolizes him discovering life again once he reaches the end of his captivity.



Because we can feel as though life is an illusion or we are being controlled, we feel compelled to take risks, and this is the only way to satisfy our curiosity about the true nature of life. When can’t be sure if the people around us really exit, and if we are being controlled, so we try to stretch the boundaries in life to see if reality can change somehow to reveal the true nature of life which is what the Truman Show emphasizes. The movie tells us that life could very well be controlled by some higher being as if our lives are being played out.